Nearly 20 years after the Vizconde Massacre and the hysteria continues with the recent release of Hubert Webb. Time has a way of making you see things from a different perspective. Seeing Lauro Vizconde back in the limelight I can say this now: he is a self-aggrandizing sack of shit.It's unfortunate that with all the sympathy that surrounded him during the height of the Vizconde trials, and even after Hubert and company have already been sent to prison, no one bothered to check who Lauro Vizconde really is.
For instance, did anyone know that for years he and his family had been living with his father-in-law. When he went to the United States, he had, in fact been long estranged from his wife and family. I doubt that his reason for going to the United States, allegedly to find a school for Carmela, is even true. If he couldn't even afford to support his own family, how can he send Carmela to a school in the US? And to stay there for three years? That's a pretty long time to be looking for a school, don't you think? In Che-Che Lazaro's documentary, when she asked him what he did in the US in all that time, he gave a vague response about helping in his cousin's restaurant. And while he was "helping" out his cousin, what did his wife and children live on? In fact, the house in BF, which he said was their "surprise" for him, was not even bought by his money but from proceeds of the sale of his father in-law's Valenzuela property. The reason he didn't have any idea that his wife bought a house was because it was no longer his business as they were already separated.
I am not saying that this information should cast doubt on how much he loved his family or in any way diminish the depth of his grief from their gruesome deaths. It is however, a glimpse into the man's character and the real state of his relationship with his family at the time of their deaths.
Then came the Vizconde massacre. Of course I deplore what happened to the Vizconde family. It was inhuman and whoever did it should suffer. But even then I had a strong feeling it wasn't Hubert. There were too many inconsistencies in Alfaro's testimony and Hubert's documentary evidence was too strong. And yet everyone believed that then Senator Freddie Webb tampered with evidence and paid people. And yet amid the wild rumors circulating at that time many still wondered, can you really present fake US documents as part of evidence in a highly-celebrated case without the United States government uttering a word of protest? Even if he was a Senator, Freddie Webb wasn't that powerful.
And so the conviction came, with Webb and family protesting his innocence throughout. And now that the Supreme Court acquitted them, Lauro Vizconde is once again in the limelight. I will not discuss the fine points of the case. Anyone can read the Supreme Court decision online. Neither will I argue why I think Hubert is innocent as people will have their opinions and biases. But what disturbs me is Lauro Vizconde. Since the time of the murders and subsequent trial he has apparently been appointed to the board of two government-owned offices because as he pitifully explained, "Alam naman nila wala na 'kong hanapbuhay..." What qualified him to be a member of the board? If he had not been a prominent "victim" and member of the VACC, would he have been given those positions?
Listening to Mr. Vizconde and reading his pronouncements I strongly feel that something is amiss. There is something hypocritical and faintly disgusting about his "justice is only for the rich and powerful" argument (Isn't he the one who's now cozy with government? They even gave him a job, right?), his pa-awa mien and not to mention his contradicting stories. It's incredible how people still believe him when his inconsistencies, lies and embellishments are so plain to see. For instance, he insists that prior to their deaths, Carmela told him she was being courted by a son of a politician but admits that she never once told him his name. He said he confirmed that it was indeed Hubert and company because of what psychics told him. PSYCHICS?! And to declare that the Supreme Court justices have been paid off, that's something. How rich and influential does he really think Webb is? First he paid off the US government so he can get all those documents for Hubert, but Hubert goes to jail for 15 years anyway, so now in a last-ditch effort he pays off the Supreme Court justices to rule an acquittal. Wow. Even at face value, his claims stretch credulity and yet people still believe him. But I have a feeling he knows exactly how his outlandish claims and accusations and pitiable demeanor will play out to the public. My impression is that he no longer cares about the truth. All he wants is for somebody to pay for what happened to his family. That it should be Webb and other "scions of rich families" is certainly convenient and to a large degree, popular. I mean suppose it was discovered that it was really a group of dirt-poor karpinteros who did it. Do you think he would have enjoyed the public sympathy and prominence that he had throughout these years? I don't think so.
Sadly stereotypes are indeed hard to destroy. And what the Vizconde massacre has become is a battle of sterotypes locked in a storyline that's as old as time. Rich against poor. Powerful against the weak. I guess what people really hate is not that Hubert and company have been freed. What they hate is that the acquittal of Webb rudely subverted their morality tale's happy ending. And Lauro Vizconde is desperately playing to the public with all that he's got because he knows that the curtain is about to fall.
